71/72 Kingsway, Swansea
A landmark development by Swansea Council, at the heart of The Kingsway redevelopment project in Swansea city centre.
Project information
Client
Swansea Council
Partners
Architecture 00, Gleeds, WSP, Cushman & Wakefield
Location
Swansea
The Challenge
Following the clearance of the former Oceana nightclub, a major site on Swansea’s Kingsway presented a transformative opportunity to reconnect fractured townscape patterns and deliver a high-density, commercial office development. However, progressing from early concepts to a deliverable scheme required navigating complex urban design, land-use, and commercial viability parameters to give Swansea Council the confidence to step forward as the lead developer.
Following an initial spatial feasibility study prepared by The Urbanists, the project required a lead planning strategy to steer the multidisciplinary team's emerging design through public consultation, statutory policy alignment, and full planning approval.
Our Role
The Urbanists played a dual role in unlocking 71/72 The Kingsway—first leading the initial site feasibility study in 2017, and subsequently acting as Lead Planning Consultant alongside the full project team (including Architecture 00, Cushman & Wakefield, Gleeds, and WSP) to take the scheme through to planning permission.
Our key contributions included:
Multidisciplinary Coordination: Scoped and managed the planning inputs from the wider design team, aligning architectural, commercial, engineering, and cost parameter inputs into a robust planning strategy.
Policy & Application Management: Prepared and managed the comprehensive full planning application, ensuring the proposals addressed all planning policy requirements, material considerations, local regeneration objectives, urban design standards, and accessibility.
Stakeholder & Authority Liaison: Coordinated consultations and engagement to secure multi-stakeholder support.
Securing Approvals: Successfully steered the application through committee, securing full planning permission in June 2020.
We managed the discharge of pre-commencement conditions to allow a prompt start on site and were retained throughout the construction stage to advise the contractors on amendments to the scheme.
The Outcome
Through our early feasibility groundwork and subsequent management of the planning process, 71/72 The Kingsway secured full planning consent.
This paved the way for the construction of a 100,000 sq ft, high-tech flexible workspace with world-class digital infrastructure and integrated public realm—delivering a major catalyst for Swansea’s ongoing city-centre regeneration.
